Mile News

Mile Moment of the Month: Jim Ryun’s Sub-4 at Kansas State Meet

On May 15, 1965, Jim Ryun, who a year earlier had already broken 4 minutes in the Mile as a junior for Wichita East High in Wichita, KS, the first prep athlete to achieve the magic mark, walked onto the cinder track at the Kansas State Meet to attempt a solo sub-4 minute Mile. His athletic talent, already known the world over, was nonetheless stepping onto untested ground. Ryun's first sub-4 came at an Open race almost a year earlier on June 5, 1964 in Compton, CA, a season in which he also qualified for the 1964 Olympic Games in the 1500 meters. This would be a high school-only race where he would need to lead every step of the way in a race against the clock.

What ensued remains one of the greatest individual High School Track & Field accomplishments ever. Ryun's incredible 3:58.3 solo clocking on that May afternoon in Wichita was the first sub-4 at a high school-only competition and remains the fastest to this day and it is the only sub-4 minute Mile at a State meet to-date. Overall, the teen phenom ran five sub-4 minute Miles as a HS boy, the most ever.

Unfortunately and disappointingly, the Kansas State High School Activities Association (KSHSAA) does not celebrate this historic mark in their record books. With some of America's greatest Milers of all-time born and raised in Kansas, there isn't a better state than the Sunflower State to Bring Back the Mile to honor them and Ryun's extraordinary HS Mile performance.

May 15, 1965, Wichita, KS
Jim Ryun breaks 4 minutes (3:58.3) for the Mile at Kansas State Meet – first sub-4 at high school-only competition and State meet (1965); still the only sub-4 at a State meet.

Return the Mile to prominence on the American sports and cultural landscape by elevating and celebrating the Mile to create a national movement.

ELEVATEBring Back the Mile as the premier event in the sport, and increase interest in and media coverage of the Mile for both those who love the distance as well as the general public.

CELEBRATEBring Back the Mile to celebrate the storied distance and to recognize the people who made and make the Mile great and to promote Mile events and the next generation of U.S. Milers.

NATIONAL MOVEMENTBring Back the Mile to create a national movement for the Mile as America’s Distance, to inspire Americans to run the Mile as part of their fitness program and to replace the 1600 meters at High School State Track & Field Meets across the country.

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